Boehringer reshuffle cuts 327 jobs in France

Boehringer says it will reduce its workforce in France, including 182 positions in human health, to streamline operations in ‘deteriorating markets’.

The restructure will see Boehringer Ingelheim reduce its 2,617-strong headcount in France by 327 – marking a reduction of 12.5%. An additional 32 posts will be created within the company, for which employees affected by the decision are eligible to apply.

According to the firm, “…An in-depth analysis of [its] situation in deteriorating markets” ​prompted the decision, together with an ambition to become the market leader across its core business areas.

“This refocusing of activity is accompanied by an ambitious long-term objective, to be recognised by 2025 as a privileged partner and as no.1 in the therapeutic classes chosen by the human health group, no.1 in animal health, and [no.] 1 in manufacturing biopharmaceutical products on behalf of third parties,” ​said the firm in a statement.

To keep in line with this strategy, activities which “don’t have innovation at [their] core”​ have been the focus of divestment projects across the firm’s network.

In 2015​, for example, Boehringer sold its US generics subsidiary, Roxane Laboratories, to Hikma for $2.65bn (€2.3bn), and in October this year​, Dutch firm Dopharma agreed to buy its animal health manufacturing facility in Saint-Herblon, France, where Boehringer makes generics and antibiotics for livestock.

Animal health​

Boehringer’s focus on animal health has also impacted the restructure in France, a country the firm said “has been at the heart of this strategic refocusing” ​since it exchanged its consumer healthcare business for Sanofi’s animal health business – Merial – in 2017​.

A total 130 of the aforementioned 327 jobs will be removed from Merial, and a number of posts in regional animal health functions transferred to Ingelheim, Germany. Animal health support functions will be regrouped in Lyon, France.

No industrial or R&D sites in France are concerned by this action, the firm told this publication.